Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou

Geoffrey "the Fair" Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (24 August 1113-7 September 1151) was Count of Anjou from 1129 to 7 September 1151, succeeding Fulk of Anjou and preceding Henry Curtmantle. He was the father of Henry Curtmantle (later "Henry II of England"), and he was the founder of the House of Plantagenet, which was named for his habit of wearing a yellow sprig of broom blossom on his hat.

Biography
Geoffrey Plantagenet was born in 1113, the elder son of Fulk V of Anjou and Ermengarde, Countess of Maine. In 1128, he was knighted by King Henry I of England after arranging for a marriage between him and his own daughter, Empress Matilda (the widow of Henry V of Germany). The year after the marriage, Geoffrey's father left for the Kingdom of Jerusalem to become king, and Geoffrey assisted his wife in her quest to seize control of England during "The Anarchy". In 1144, he seized Normandy, holding the duchy until 1149, when he ceded the duchy to his son Henry Curmantle. He also put down the baronial rebellions in Anjou in 1129, 1135, and from 1145 to 1151. His son was guaranteed the throne of England upon the death of Stephen of Blois, and Geoffrey died of fever in 1151.